1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a graphical user interface which, as one example, may be utilized to control a printer, and which has enhanced features, particularly when making a selection on an initial summary list screen and then switching to a more specific screen.
2. Discussion of the Background
Many personal computers used at the home or office are directly connected to a printer, i.e., a one-to-one connection. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional set-up of a computer 2 and a printer 6 attached via a cable 4. The printer 6 includes a connection port 7 for attaching the cable 4 to the printer 6. Thus, a user using the computer 2 can select an item or other object to be printed on the printer 6.
When the printer 6 is first installed at the home or office, a printer driver corresponding to the printer 6 is generally supplied on a separate computer readable medium, such as a CD-ROM or floppy disk, and a user must install the printer driver onto the computer 2. The user must also configure the computer 2 to include any available printer options supplied with the printer 6. This is generally accomplished by manually selecting options from a Graphic User Interface (GUI) provided with the printer driver. For example, the GUI may list printer options, such as input trays, output trays, memory available, stapling devices, etc. A base model of the printer generally includes only standard printer options (e.g., one input tray, one output tray, and no extra memory). Thus, the user is required to purchase any desired additional options, such as extra input or output trays.
When the printer driver is loaded onto the computer, the corresponding GUI prompts the user for any additional printer options he or she may have purchased. Then, the user manually selects the additional printer options from the list of options displayed on the GUI. Alternatively, the user may retrieve the available printer options by connecting the printer 6 to a local printer port of the computer 2 and then query a language monitor which enables bidirectional communication between the printer 6 and the computer 2. A language monitor is a software module which uses, for example, page-description language, such as Postscript, PJL, etc., to retrieve the available printer options.
FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional application 10 interfacing the printer 6. The conventional application 10 is hosted on an operating system 14 resident on the computer 2. A user may retrieve the options available with the printer 6 using the application 10, a printer driver 12, and a language monitor 13. The printer driver 12 and language monitor 13 are printer and operating system specific software interfaces. The operating system 14 sends signals in accordance with instructions from the printer driver 12 and language monitor 13 to the local port 18 via a connection 8, thus placing signals corresponding the printer driver 12 and language monitor 13 on the cable 4 connected to a parallel port 9 of the printer 6. That is, via the application 10 and printer driver 12, the printer driver 12 may query the language monitor 13 for the available printer options, and the language monitor 13 retrieves that information from the printer 6 via the local port 18 and cable 4. The printer driver 12 then updates the list of available printer options displayed on the GUI. However, the printer 6 must be connected to the local port of the computer 2 to retrieve the available printer options using the language monitor 13.
Increasingly, a plurality of printers and computers are connected to a network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN). For example, FIG. 3 illustrates a plurality of computers 2 and printers 6 connected to each other via a network 5. The computers 2 and printers 6 illustrated in FIG. 3 are identified by the same reference numeral, however, the network may include many different computers and printers connected together. Also shown is a centralized computer 3, used by a system administrator, for example. The centralized computer 3 generally includes a network manager and/or a printer manager, such as an IBM Network Printer Manager sold under the trademark NPM, or a Hewlett Packard (HP) printer administrator sold under the trademark HP JET ADMIN. The printer manager is used by the system administrator of the network 5 to control, modify, monitor, etc., the plurality of printers 6 connected to the network 5.
As noted above, when controlling the printer 6 a graphical user interface as a part of the printer driver 12 appears on the display of the computer 2. A background graphical user interface includes many features that are categorized into different tabs corresponding to different screens on the graphical user interface. The different tabs may have representations such as “Setup”, “Paper”, “Print Quality”, etc. If a user of the graphical user interface wants to change certain of the settings, the user can “click on”, i.e. select with a mouse connected to the computer 2, one of the different tabs to change the screen displayed on the computer 2. The user can then change settings on the new screen corresponding to the tab selected. For example, if an initial display of a graphical user interface includes different tabs of “Setup”, “Paper”, and “Print Quality”, and the user wishes to change the type of paper in the printer, the user can click on the “Paper” tab. When the user clicks on the “Paper” tab a new screen providing different paper settings is displayed on the computer 2. The user can then select or change the different settings displayed on the computer 2 by clicking on the various settings displayed.
However, such a background graphical user interface suffers from a problem in that as computers become more and more complicated, the number of settings and the number of different tabs in the graphical user interface increase significantly. As a result, the graphical user interface itself becomes very complicated and more difficult to use.
Moreover, as a user switches between different screens of the graphical user interface, it may be difficult for the user to immediately locate the settings they wish to change or select.